Atlanta lost again? Yes, were you expecting anything different? If I sound jaded and completely pessimistic, it’s because at this point I am. The problems go well beyond just Dan Uggla, B.J. Upton, or Jason Heyward. The offense of this team is flat, sad, and pathetic. Yes, I still have hope, but like any fan who loves the Braves, I’m disgusted at this point. Take a a look at the dismal boxscore from yesterday’s loss, courtesy of Baseball Reference.
| Batting | AB | R | H | RBI | BB | SO | BA | OPS | Pit | Str | PO | A |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jason Heyward RF | 4 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .216 | .633 | 12 | 10 | 2 | 0 |
| Justin Upton LF | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .273 | .873 | 15 | 10 | 1 | 0 |
| Craig Kimbrel P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ||||
| Freddie Freeman 1B | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | .301 | .885 | 20 | 11 | 5 | 0 |
| Evan Gattis C | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .242 | .764 | 13 | 10 | 9 | 1 |
| Chris Johnson 3B | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .277 | .661 | 19 | 16 | 1 | 0 |
| B.J. Upton CF | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | .203 | .601 | 17 | 14 | 3 | 0 |
| Andrelton Simmons SS | 3 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .275 | .731 | 9 | 7 | 1 | 2 |
| Aaron Harang P | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .056 | .111 | 5 | 4 | 0 | 2 |
| Ryan Doumit PH | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .200 | .440 | 4 | 3 | ||
| Anthony Varvaro P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||
| Luis Avilan P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ||||
| Jordan Schafer LF | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .125 | .368 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Tyler Pastornicky 2B | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .207 | .557 | 10 | 3 | 2 | 0 |
| Team Totals | 30 | 1 | 6 | 0 | 3 | 10 | .200 | .506 | 124 | 88 | 24 | 7 |
| Pitching | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR | ERA | BF | Pit | Str | Ctct | StS | StL | GB | FB | LD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aaron Harang, L (4-4) | 6 | 6 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 2.98 | 23 | 85 | 59 | 33 | 9 | 17 | 7 | 8 | 3 |
| Anthony Varvaro | 0.1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2.77 | 3 | 22 | 16 | 14 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Luis Avilan | 0.2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4.61 | 1 | 7 | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Craig Kimbrel | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2.35 | 3 | 13 | 10 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Team Totals | 8 | 8 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 9 | 0 | 3.38 | 30 | 127 | 91 | 55 | 15 | 21 | 10 | 10 | 4 |
Atlanta Braves’ manager Fredi Gonzalez was ejected in yesterday afternoon’s game against the Cardinals, as he argued what to my eyes was clearly a horrible call. Take a look, and you be the judge. Note: We would normally embed MLB video, but the embed link was missing on this one. Just follow the link below and take a look…
Gonzalez ejected in the 5th
http://m.mlb.com/video/v32937797/?query=fredi%2Bgonzalez
The Miami Herald picked up the recap of the Atlanta Braves’ Saturday loss to the the St. Louis Cardinals. Take a look at what Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch had to say about the game.
Cards, Miller drop Braves, 4-1
"Wong led the Cardinals’ fast-forward offense with two bunts for base hits, a stolen base, a forced error, two runs, and a key run on a sacrifice fly. The rookie second baseman’s footprint was all over the Cardinals’ first three runs as they cruised to a 4-1 victory against Atlanta at Busch Stadium. Starter Shelby Miller authored seven innings and his sharpest start of the season to compel the Cardinals to their fourth consecutive victory, tying the longest winning streak of the season."
The St. Louis Cardinal will be going for the sweep this afternoon against the ailing Atlanta Braves, and frankly the chances are quite good for such a sweep, based on the way the Braves are playing these days. Alex Halsted of MLB takes a look at today’s matchup.
Cards hope Garcia can seal sweep in debut
"Through the early part of the 2014 season, Atlanta has had numerous close calls and has often found itself one big hit away. So far this season, 32 of the Braves’ 41 games have been decided by three or fewer runs.“We’ve got a talented club and teams go through this stuff. I don’t even know what our record is, but it’s above .500 obviously, and we haven’t even swung the bats like we’re capable of and we just keep hanging around,” Gonzalez said. “And sooner or later, we’ll start swinging like we’re capable of.”"
Andrew Shaw of Rants Sports opines, like many of us have, that the Braves should just about be the point of being completely done with B.J. Upton. Support B.J., love B.J. or hate B.J., you have to admit that Andrew, like many others of us who have opined the same, have a valid point.
Atlanta Braves Need To Give Up On B.J. Upton
"The time has come for the Atlanta Braves to give up on B.J. Upton. The outfielder has been terrible ever since joining the team a season ago, and enough is enough if you ask me. He showed some promising signs when he switched over to some prescription glasses about a month ago, but lately he’s been falling back into old habits and now it’s starting to hurt the team."